Abortion pill sends bad message

     A controversial revolution for American women was granted by the Federal Drug Administration Thursday, Sept. 29, when it approved the abortion pill.
     Not since women were granted the vote has an issue raised such an outcry, both for and against the pill.
     The questions that linger concern the drug’s safety, its effects and the message being sent about abortion.
     The pill, mifepristone, is already used in 13 countries and may be available here as early as one month.
     For more than 10 years, European women have been able to use mifepristone, and health experts say that the number of abortions has not increased.
     The process involves taking three pills and returning to the doctor two days later for a second drug, misoprostol, that causes uterine contractions to expel the embryo.
     Two weeks later the woman will return to the doctor for another visit to confirm that the abortion is complete.
     Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Inc., said, “Mifepristone is a significant technological advancement for women's health; it will enable women to choose to terminate a pregnancy earlier and without surgery. The abortion pill is far less invasive than a surgical abortion and can be given in a physician's office.”
     The FDA will release the pill only to doctors who can operate in case a surgical abortion is needed to complete the job or in case of severe bleeding. Doctors who employ this drug must be able to predict etopic pregnancies and accurately determine the duration of the pregnancy with ultra sound equipment. Special training and extra malpractice insurance may be an issue, and surely insurance companies will adjust their rates accordingly.
     FDA Commissioner Jane Henney approved mifepristone based on studies that have shown that the drug is 92-95.5 percent effective in causing abortion when used within the first seven weeks of pregnancy.
     Anti-abortion opponents plan to target doctors who agree to prescribe the pill. They call the drug baby poison and are enlisting allies in Congress to try to ban it and threatening boycotts on whoever makes it.
     Proponents believe that complications from the pill are rare because serious bleeding occurs only in 1 percent of women.
     Surveys of physicians in Washington state indicate that slightly more than one quarter of doctors would be likely to prescribe the pill. Many in the group viewed medical abortions as safe, effective and private.
     The pill-induced abortion seems unsupervised even though the patient visits with the doctor three times during the procedure.
     The patient will not have immediate access to a doctor as opposed to being in a supervised environment until the abortion is complete.
     This abortion method seems so casual that a teenager could opt for it and keep it a secret from her parents because she would never have to leave her bedroom.
     This pill will make it easier to get out of unwanted pregnancies, and it will probably reduce the likelihood of using condoms and other contraceptives.